Chapter 4

Jessie's anthropology class ended at 2:30. Once she was out of the classroom she went to Professor Sloan's office to try and catch him before he went home. When he got there, James was also there.

"Jessie, are you here to see the professor?"

"If he's available James. I'd like to talk to him regarding my project."

"Sure come on in. If you like I'll wait for you in the hall; we can walk to our cars together."

"That's fine James, you go on ahead. I'll be along in a while."

Jessie went into the front office and waited for the professor to be off the telephone. A few minutes later he waved her into his office.

"Good afternoon Ms. Burlingame. How can I help you?"

"Professor Sloan, the topic of ethnicity in sociology is very broad; would you allow us to focus on one area of ethnicity?"

"What areas were you interested in researching?"

"I wanted to research the holocaust, before, during and after."

"That's a very good choice, very involved though. Are you going to be able to do it?"

"I don't plan to write a 50 page report if that's what you are worried about. I just want to touch on the main points of this area."

"Run with it, but keep either James or I informed of your progress. Don't get overwhelmed."

"Thank you sir. I will keep you informed."

Jessie stood up and shook his hand. She had finally come up with an idea for her end of term project. She walked out of the building towards her car. She opened the door and threw her book bag on the back seat. She felt a presence behind her and quickly turned around hands up ready to defend herself.

"Whoa girl, slow down. It's just me."

"Amanda, what are you doing here?" she asked, hugging her cousin.

"I thought I'd come find you and see if you wanted to go for coffee. You know when I arrived there was a very good looking young man standing here waiting for you, and it wasn't Chris. Are you having one last fling before you get tied down?"

"I'm not you; I don't need one last fling. His name is James, he's my T.A. for sociology, and he's also got a crush on me. At least that's what all the girls in the class are saying. How did you get here?"

"Bus, car broke down this morning."

"Well get in, we'll go to Timmy's and grab a coffee."

The girls got into the car and drove off. They chatted about everyday stuff and Amanda reminded Jessie about Easter dinner on Sunday. A while later Jessie was home alone getting dinner ready. She grabbed some candles out of the drawer and put them on the table. She went down the hall and changed into something black and sexy. Knowing Chris and knowing that he wouldn't be home until 5:30 she didn't worry about rushing dinner. At 5:30 she heard his car pull into the driveway. She clicked the play button on the CD player and Edwin McCain started to play. She poured two glasses of white wine and placed dinner on the table for them.

When Chris came through the door he could hear the music, could smell the dinner Jessie had prepared and noticed that all the lights were down. He could also smell the roses he held behind his back for her, the smell mixed well with everything else. He walked down the hall to the dining room and momentarily lost his breath and voice when he saw Jessie. She was in the black dress she had worn on their first "official" date, the one that came to just above the knee and had a modestly low neckline.

"These are for you," he said handing her the roses from behind his back.

"Thank you, they're lovely."

"It's very romantic in here, suddenly I feel very overdressed."

"Well I can help you with that if you'd like Dr. Flynn."

Jessie walked towards him and undid his tie. She slipped it off his head and then untucked his shirt and let it hang over his pants. She backed away.

"Good enough for now, don't want to spoil dinner."

"Oh but I was just beginning to enjoy myself."

"Eat something first, then we'll continue this…..in the shower," she whispered the last part into his ear making him shiver.

They sat down and ate dinner. Chris didn't want to offend her, she'd obviously gone to a lot of trouble for dinner, but all he really wanted right now was her. He could see that she too was just picking at her dinner so he stood up and suggested a dance. On the stereo was playing I'll Be. This song was the first song they had danced to and also the song that was playing in the background when they'd first made love. He thought it was only fitting.

Jessie stood up and took his hand, their song was playing. Chris held her close and she wrapped her arms around him and let him move their bodies to the beat of the music.

Just as the first verse ended Chris looked into Jessie's eyes and closed the distance between them with a passionate kiss. After a few moments they parted and dinner forgotten he scooped her up in his arms and carried her down the hall. He placed her on the bed and proceeded to undress as the second verse started. First the bedroom, the shower could wait till later.

A/N: I'll Be is written and sung by Edwin McCain as noted in disclaimers in Chapter One.